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Essay / Analysis of Dissociative Identity Disorder Cases
For many years, abnormal behavior was frowned upon. They were neglected and no one ever stopped to investigate the cause of these behaviors and whether any of these unusual behaviors had a deeper meaning than simply categorizing them as unacceptable norms. The purpose of this article is to reveal a disorder that is found in people all over the world. Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) known today as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). The disorder is described as the existence of multiple identities and personalities within a person that take control of their conscious state of mind. Throughout the article, the cases of two girls, Félida and Lucie, who face divided identities will be discussed, the history and introduction of DID in cinema, as well as the causes, symptoms and people affected by the psychological disorder will be analyzed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get the original essay In the late 1800s, a case sparked controversy over whether there could be two sets of games. identities within a person. The case was known as the “Félida X case”. The case was based on a young teenager named Félida who suffered from a dual identity. The study was documented by surgeon Etienne Eugène Azam who said Félida suffered from constant headaches and seizures. She tended to fall into a long, deep sleep. However, when she awoke from these sleep states, she would have a particular personality, unique and completely different from the one she had before falling asleep. The new personality was cheerful and frivolous and liked to make jokes, unlike Felida before sleep who was more serious and reserved. It was a case like this that sparked an argument between the “unconscious second self” (Brown, 2003). Pierre Janet, one of the founding fathers of psychology, intrigued by the concepts of the second personality, also conducted his study with a 19-year-old patient named Lucie. During the study, Janet focused on resolving Lucie's hysteria. He used hypnosis, which is when a person is in a conscious state but ultimately loses the power of voluntary actions and responds only to commands given by the hypnotist. Lucie often performed various tasks after waking up from her hypnotic sleep, which she did not remember doing until later. Janet predicted that Lucie had another identity in her, so he chose to try something new. Janet stood behind her and asked her questions while Lucie chatted with someone else. She responded to his interrogations by writing sentences on paper. After she finished writing down what she had answered to Janet, she denied having completed the task because she was unaware that she had in fact answered the questions he had asked her. The second character who had carried out this “automatic writing” would later be called Adrienne, Lucie’s second identity. The two personalities were far from similar. Adrienne was considered a "healthier" person than Lucie, given that she did not experience the hysteria that Lucie experienced on a daily basis. Thus, it was ultimately the various subsequent studies of Pierre Janet which would later confirm the discovery of “dissociation” disorders within in-depth research on other subjects (Brown, 2003). These cases may have provided evidence that abnormal behaviors were not simply actions exhibited by a person going crazy, but rather symptoms that peoplefeel when they suffer from a dissociative disorder. Going back well before the cases of Félida and Lucie, abnormal behavior was linked to supernatural deviances or was considered an illness that infected the bloodstream of the human body. Many believed that people with psychological disorders were presumed to have been possessed by a demon or tormented by gods. It was only in the 20th century that research was carried out,and psychological disorders were classified and subsequently pronounced as part of "multiple personality disorder" (MPD). The disorder, however, was later renamed “Dissociative Identity Disorder” DID by the American Psychiatric Association in 1994 (McDavid, 1994). Additionally, in the face of the attention that DID has been able to attract, films and theater performances have also had a huge impact in providing an image of dissociative disorder. A film like The Three Faces of Eve revived interest in multiple personality disorders in the late 1950s. The film depicted an actress playing the role of a woman named Eve White who suffered from multiple personalities and changed often her name as Jane and Eve Black. In the film, she too, like many DID patients, suffered from headaches as well as other symptoms consisting of fainting and memory loss. The misfortune of not being able to remember affected her daily life as she was unable to remember what she had done throughout the day. Although it took decades for this disorder to be recognized, ultimately it was studies by psychologists as well as films like this that helped identify and change minds many people. So, what causes DID? Who does this affect? And what symptoms accompany the disease? First of all, the development of this disorder is provoked by traumatic situations such as physical or sexual abuse, parental neglect and involvement in an accident. It is reported in the Journal of Mental Health Counseling, by Lamerial Jacobson et al., that approximately seventy-one percent of patients with IDD experienced physical abuse during childhood, and approximately seventy-four percent were sexually abused (Hallet, 2015). ). The complication is known to develop before the age of seven and is primarily diagnosed in females due to a higher rate of sexual abuse and incest which affects females more often than males. Some of the symptoms of DID are forgetting memorable experiences and losing recognition of traumatic incidents. Some may also develop depression and anxiety as well as eating disorders or addictions. Patients with this complication have been found to behave in a hostile or erratic manner by changing the tone of their voice, changing their body movements, and making unusual facial expressions. Yet, to date, no permanent cure has been found for recurring split personalities. However, symptoms can be treated with intense psychotherapy, behavioral, family, and hypnotherapy therapies. Normally, during the process, clinicians allow patients to understand and learn about their multiple personalities so that they can better learn to regulate their emotions and behaviors. In doing so, clinicians ameliorate the effects of amnesia, since people with IDD are unaware of their own identity. Ultimately, the Host's ultimate goal is to find a way to integrate all of the personalities within it to form a unified whole. Keep in mind: this is not, 93(3), 477-500.